


To Sink, To Float

by acoolgirl



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Historical, Drama, F/M, Friendship, Humor, Romance, Stranded, Wilderness Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-04-08 16:38:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14109558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acoolgirl/pseuds/acoolgirl
Summary: The year is 1812, and cousins Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne embark on a long journey from their Italian home of Palermo to Port Jackson, Australia.Only to have their ship sink.





	1. Stranded

Katniss wakes with a start, and for a second, imagines that the night before was just a nightmare; after all, there was no way the skies could be so blue after a night so black.

But then she is aware of the hot sand beneath her back and the salt in her throat, and sits up frantically, her heart nearly beating out of her chest. She sits alone on a white beach, a green jungle behind her, and the blue ocean in front of her.

“Gale!” she tries to call for her cousin, but her throat is too raw from the seawater to make much noise.

As tears gather in her eyes, Katniss tries to scramble up, but her right leg collapses underneath her with a sharp pain-she must have pulled a muscle badly last night while she had been trying desperately not to drown.

Face down in the scorching sand, leg cramping terribly, and head dizzy from dehydration, Katniss tries and fails not to hyperventilate as the panic took over.

 _I’m stranded all by myself….Prim...Gale...Mother…._ Large tears roll down her cheeks as Katniss feels crushed by the terror and loneliness.

“Hallo!”

A man’s voice calling out to her made her raise her head sharply, and there in the distance running towards her was a blonde man.

Katniss immediately searches through her skirts for the knife Gale always insisted she has on her as she furiously rubs away her tears, and stiffens with fear as she can’t find it.

The man is closer to her now and slows down, letting Katniss can take in his features. His curly hair is sprung up wildly, no doubt from his dip in the ocean, and his blue eyes are opened wide on his square, boyish face as he looks at her in what looks like concern. He isn’t particularly tall, not like her cousin, but he’s broad-shouldered and stocky, and Katniss knows immediately that he could overpower her physically without trying very hard.

_I need to get out of here!_

“Geht es dir gut?” the blonde man asks, crouching down. Katniss immediately scrambles away from him, cursing her lame leg. He looks apologetic as he backs away from her, lifting up his hands as if to show he had no weapon.

Katniss frowned at him. She and Gale had spent the last few months trying to learn English so that they could survive in Australia, an English colony, and despite her limitations with the language, she was certain the man was not speaking it.

“Vengo da Italia,” Katniss murmurs, looking around for perhaps some driftwood, or even a sharp shell to protect herself with.

“Ah...Italy?” the man asks in a heavy accent. Katniss nods, still not looking at him.

“You speak English?” he asks again. The old woman Mags, who had given her and Gale English lessons did not sound at all like him when she spoke the language.

“Yes,” Katniss answers tersely, finally looking back at him when she finds nothing at hand. She needed to watch him closely to predict his movements.

“Ah, good!” he sighs in visible relief. “I come from Germany, but I try learning English.”

Katniss doesn’t reply, only eyeing him critically. He dressed like most other male passengers on the boat, which is to say practically in a button down, suspenders, cotton pants, and boots. His pockets appeared empty, and there was nothing on his person.

“There are others?” Katniss asks gruffly.

His face falls at the question. “No, I look and look. My full family…”

Katniss can’t help but feel bad for him. While she had just lost her cousin, the rest of her family was still safe back in Italy.

“Sorry,” he apologizes, though Katniss does not know what for, shaking his head. “I am Peeta Mellark.”

He sticks out his hand and gives her a friendly smile. Katniss just frowns at him.

His eyes dim as he slowly lowers his hand. “You are….afraid. Of me?” he asks hesitantly.

“No,” Katniss spits. It’s a lie, but he can’t know that.

“My Father,” he pauses to take a deep breath before continuing. “He say always to me and my brothers: respect woman. Protect woman. I will not hurt anything.”

“You can be liar,” Katniss says with narrowed eyes, although she herself doesn’t feel very inclined to believe that, not when he looks so sincere.

“No liar!” Peeta defends himself. “I show you water. To drink,” he clarifies with a slightly awkward chuckle.

His offer reminds her of just how thristy she is, and Katniss realizes that if she doesn’t drink clean water soon, she could die, or fall very ill.

“I can’t walk,” Katniss whispers, staring down at her leg in shame.

“Me too, for little bit,” Peeta admits. He looks nervous as he crouches down again. “I...help you?”

Realizing she really doesn’t have any other choice, Katniss nods reluctantly. Peeta gives her a big smile, and she’s distracted by how white his teeth are.

She had been expecting him to lend an arm for her to clutch onto, but he takes her by surprise when he scoops her up from under the knees and lifts her up to him. By instinct, her arms go around his neck to steady herself, but as soon as she’s stable, she turns her head to glare at him very closely.

His expression is bashful, and at this distance, Katniss can practically count all his light eyelashes.

“Faster like this,” Peeta explains bashfully. Katniss turns away from him as he begins to walk, trying to will her heart to stop beating so quickly; at this proximity, Peeta was sure to notice it.

But how could she remain calm as a strange man carried her into a foreign forest, where who knows what awaited?

The colors that surround her distract her, as Katniss takes in the tropical landscape. As much as she hates the place, she isn’t immune to its untouched beauty. Sooner than she had anticipated, Peeta carries her over to a stream. As soon as he sets her down, Katniss crawls to the water and cups it greedily in her hands, the water soothing her burning insides. When she drinks until she can drink no more, Katniss splashes some water on her face and sighs in relief at the temporary relief it brings from the heat.

Running a wet hand through her braided hair, Katniss looks over at her German companion and finds blue eyes already staring at her.

Instead of looking away, he clears his throat and nervously scratches the back of his neck.

“I think we should be...what is the word? Allies,” Peeta says hesitantly.

Allies. Katniss has to roll the word around in her mind before she can remember its meaning. _Alleato._

Katniss looks back down at the stream from which she had drunk from. He had saved her life by bringing her here, and he had had ample opportunities to hurt her. Strangely enough, this isn’t what she’s thinking of when she looks back at him. She thinks of the sorrow on his face when he had told her of his family, and the sincerity in his eyes when he promised he wouldn’t hurt her.

“Allies,” Katniss agrees, this time reaching out with her hand. He gives her one more big smile before taking her hand in his.

Katniss looks around at the foliage that surrounds them, trying to keep her anxiety down. She had left Italy to prosper, but it seems now that she would be fighting to survive.


	2. Hopefully

For a while, she and Peeta just sat by the stream, taking refuge of the coolness it provided, and indulged drinking from it several times.

Katniss lies on her on the soft green grass as she tries to think of what must be done. Food. Shelter. Means of protection.

She glances at her German companion and finds him pouring a handful of water over his head, dampening his blonde curls to a dark brown, and turning his white shirt translucent as it sticks to his skin. She immediately looks away.

She came from a fishing town, and her Father had taught her how to hunt larger, land animals as well. She could survive out here on her own, and there was a chance that Peeta would just weigh her down. Katniss bites her lip to keep from sighing; the thought of abandoning him is despicable, regardless if he had saved or not-she couldn’t just abandon him. Perhaps she was foolish for thinking so, but he held a...very innocent air around him. It reminded her of Prim.

Katniss shuts her eyes as memories of Prim surface. She’ll never be able to hold her sister to sleep again. Never tuck her shirt back into her skirt. Bicker over that stupid cat. Have her hair braided by her small hands.

“You come with your husband?” Peeta’s voice tears her away from the remembrance of her sister. She looks up at him to see him gazing into the jungle.

“No,” Katniss answers. “With my cousin. He signed on as sailor, so we got free passage.”

Peeta frowns. “What about your Father?”

“He is dead,” Katniss answers in a hard voice. That was why she and her cousin had made this voyage, in hopes of finding an employment that would let them better take care of their widowed and orphaned families.

“I am sorry,” Peeta says in a small voice. “I think my Father is dead too.”

Katniss sits up. “What do you remember of last night?”

Peeta looks up as he recalls, rubbing his chin with his hand. “Well, it was...how you say, the storm with ah, boom boom? Gewitter.”

Katniss understood what he was trying to say, temporale. _Thunderstorm._

“Thunderstorm,” Katniss supplies for him. When you live by the coast, that’s an important word to know.

Peeta’s face lights up in recognition. “Ja! Thunderstorm,” he says excitedly before his face becomes pained again. “My father, all night he pray. My eldest brother, Josef, he read bible over and over.”

Peeta suddenly laughs. “My other brother, Anton, he just keep sleeping.”

Katniss can’t help but feel her lips twitch upwards at this. Her cousin Vick was infamous for sleeping through just about anything.

“As storm get worse, my Father say, Peeta, go ask captain if we are near land,” Peeta continues, somber once more. “I say, yes Father, and go. On deck, wind and rain so strong, I could barely see, when suddenly, huge boom!”

Katniss nods empathetically. She too had heard a large explosion as she had laid in her cot last night. It must have been lightning striking the ship.

“I get up, and there is great fire behind me,” Peeta says in a tremulous voice. “I run to my Father and brothers, but the fire too much, I could not get to them.”

Katniss is shocked to see large tears fall down his cheeks. She had never before met a man who had cried in front of her. She supposed the act was supposed to make her feel as if he were feminine, or that he was emasculating himself, but all she felt for him was a surge of empathy and respect for being able to be so open with how he felt.

“I go to side of ship, but there no rafts,” Peeta sniffles, wiping his tears away with the back of his sleeve. “Everyone must have left already. I felt so alone.”

The hollowness in his voice is what compels her to bring her hand up to gently clasp his shoulder. He looks surprised, before smiling gratefully at her. She allows her hand to linger for just a moment before she pulls it back, embarrassed by her impulsiveness. 

“The sink was shipping, there was no boat, and the fire was spreading, so I jumped,” Peeta tells her. “The water was so cold, I thought, Peeta, tonight you will die. But my hands found piece of wood. I cling to it, and then, wake up on beach.”

“The ship is still floating,” Peeta tells her, making Katniss turn sharply towards in shock. “It is wedged between rocks. For long time, I just stare at it, waiting for my father and brothers to wave from me, but nothing happened. It is ghost.”

Immediately, her hope that Gale had survived dies. If he was still alive he would have found his way onto the island by now.

“What about you?” Peeta asks. “How did you survive?”

“Very much like you,” Katniss admits quietly. “I look for my cousin, I can’t find him. I saw barrel on ground, so I jump with it and somehow climb in. I try paddling with my hands, but I was tired and cold, and also fell asleep.”

“And wake up here,” Peeta concludes. Katniss nods.

They were both alive and together out of sheer luck.

“It was big ship,” Peeta says suddenly. “Maybe it had important people. It is possible that there can be search ship for us, ja?”

Katniss considers this and nods slowly. “Maybe…”

“We stay hopeful then,” Peeta decides. “If we rescue, good, if no, we still be ok. Ja?”

“It will be difficult,” Katniss sighs, rubbing at her eyes tiredly. While her thirst may have been sated, her hunger has begun to creep back. “We do not know what lies on island. Perhaps strong enemy, or dangerous animal. We have no home, no clothes, nothing.”

“You are brave girl,” Peeta says, taking her by surprise. “You leave everything to come to Australia to help your family, ja? If I try to be brave like you, we will be ok.”

Katniss is...touched, by his description of her. She’s been called many things, but never brave. She herself doesn’t think of herself as such, but it’s still nice to hear.

“Ok tedesco,” Katniss stands up and stretches her arms. “Bravery will be no help if we starve. Let us find food.”

“Tedesco?” Peeta repeats as he also stands.

“That is Italian for German,” Katniss clarifies as she finds a long stick. Hopefully, she can spear them a fish or two.

“But you know my name,” Peeta pouts. “Even though I don’t know yours.”

“Katniss,” she tells him, finally locating a decent sized stone. Now to find a rock to sharpen it with.

“Katniss,” Peeta echoes. She can’t help but stiffen at the sound. Back home, non-relative males called her perdere- _M_ _iss_. It’s the first time she’s heard her name on the tongue of a man near her age.

“That is a beautiful name,” Peeta tells her as she sharpens the stick. “What is its meaning?”

“It is a plant,” Katniss answers, wondering why she feels so stupidly shy all of a sudden. He had just said her name for God’s sake. “My Father had learned about it from a foreign merchant.”

“Well, Miss. Katniss, what are your plans with this stick?” Peeta asks, poking the tip only to wince when he feels how sharp it is.

Katniss was relieved at his added ‘miss’. She wasn’t sure if she liked or hated him saying her name alone. Suddenly the realization that it was just her and a man alone on an island hit her with an entirely new implication. She quickly shook off that thought. It’d never come to that, she’d make sure of it.

“I will spear a fish,” Katniss tells him as she walks back to the beach, relieved that her leg was working again. “Do you think you can build a fire?”

Peeta nods his head. “I will try my best.”

On the beach, Katniss finally sees the ship. It really did look more like a grave than a vessel. Her throat constricts as she imagines how painful her cousin’s last moments must have been.

Forcing herself to say strong, she wades into the waters, skirts bunched up in one hand, and spear in the other. To be in the water again after nearly drowning sends a tremor down her spine, but she tightens her grip on her stick. While the ideal would be a fishing line or even a net, she’ll have to make do with a spear. She had faith in her aim, but it was entirely up to fate if a good catch swam by her.

She’s been standing in the waters for a good 15 minutes, diligently looking for prey, when Peeta calls for her excitedly.

“Miss. Katniss!” he waves her over. “Look what I found!”

Katniss quickly wades back to shore and finds Peeta crouched in the sand by several turtle eggs.

“We can eat this, ja?” he asks her, weighing an egg in each hand as he inspects them.

Katniss is about to tell him, yes, they can eat it, when Peeta suddenly drops the eggs he’s holding, eyes wide.

“What is it?” Katniss asks immediately. Peeta doesn’t answer, only continues staring past her. Katniss turns around and her heart nearly beats out of her chest.

There, in front of the wrecked ship was a tiny raft, coming straight towards them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do apologize for the slowness, but a few things have to be set up before things can take off! 
> 
> Please let me know how I did, and thank you for reading!


	3. Setting up

Before Katniss can react, Peeta steps in front of her and holds out his arm.

“Miss. Katniss, go back to the trees,” Peeta tells her urgently, not looking away from the strange boat heading their way.

Katniss frowns at his broad back. “What? No!”

Peeta looks back to give her a pleading look. “That boat may have men that do not fear God.”

Katniss finally understood what he was trying to protect her from: men with less honorable intentions than he had. But could she really leave him out in the open with nothing to protect himself with?

Her dilemma is ended with a feminine yell.

“Hello!” a blonde woman shouts to them, one hand clutching her hat, the other waving frantically at them.

Before her or Peeta say or do anything, they finally see who’s rowing the boat.

“Galeazzo!” Katniss cries, rushing into the waters, not even bothering to hold up her skirts this time. As soon as he’s close enough, Gale jumps out of the raft and bounds towards her, easily scoping her into his embrace.

“You’re alive,” Katniss cries into his hot chest, as her arms come around his neck. “You’re really alive!”

“My back,” Gale grunts, letting her back down into the water. That’s when Katniss notices he’s shirtless, and his torso bandaged.

“What happened?” Katniss gasps, but he just shakes his head and goes over to the raft to dock it onto the shore. Peeta comes forward to help, but stops at the glare Gale sends him.

Frowning at Gale’s actions, Katniss walks alongside the raft, and is shocked to find animals aboard as well!

Once the raft is on land, Gale gives a hand to the blonde woman inside, who steps onto the sand hesitantly, while two excited dogs bound out as well.

She’s gorgeous, there was no doubt about that, with her flaxen curls, heart-shaped face, and womanly curves.

“Hello,” she says shyly to both her and Peeta. Katniss had heard enough sailors to know her accent was British. “My name is Madge Undersee.”

Peeta gives her a large smile, and Katniss forces herself not to scowl. It took him, what, under a minute to be enamored by Madge? All men were the same.

“My name is Peeta Mellark,” Peeta introduces himself in a friendly tone. One of the dogs decides to sit in between his legs and Peeta pets its head in amusement.

“Katniss, he bother you?” Gale asks her in his rough English, glaring dangerously at Peeta.

“No Gale,” Katniss immediately placates her testy cousin. “He saved my life.”

“You are her cousin, ja?” Peeta asks, looking far too understanding. “I would never hurt a woman, promise.”

Madge speaks up again. “I thought you said she was your wife?” she asks Gale confusedly.

“Yes, wife,” Gale grunts, looking uncomfortable under her scrutiny.

“Not wife,” Katniss hisses in Italian. “ _Wife_ is moglie, not cousin!”

Peeta who did not understand what she just said except ‘wife’, looks hurt. “You lie to me?”

“This is pig shit!” Gale snaps. “English is stupid. Princess, if you will do more than annoy me, you can stay. Tedesco, if you will work, you can stay. Otherwise, stay out of me and Katniss’s way.”

Madge, instead of acknowledging Gale’s rudeness with words, just leans over and pokes his back, which makes him flinch and yelp loudly.

“You will do no work until your back is healed,” Madge tells him easily, before turning back to her and Peeta. “We brought some food from the ship, and I think there’s enough cloth to make a tent.”

“Maybe my back would not be so hurt if you weren’t so…” Gale pauses in his rant as he tries to find the right word in English. “So annoying!”

“What happened?” Katniss asks again, annoyed with Gale’s immaturity. They were stranded, for God’s sake, and he was picking schoolyard fights.

“I must have climb into cellar last night,” Gale mutters. “Princess found me and bandaged the burns on my back, but when I try to leave, she put heavy box on door so I stuck!”

“He wanted to row out earlier,” Madge explains. “But he needed more rest.”

Katniss decides quickly she trusts Madge’s judgment over Gale’s.

“I unload boat,” Peeta offers helpfully. “Miss. Madge, Miss. Katniss, you prepare food? And Gale, you rest?”

“I don’t need help,” Gale barks. Katniss knows him well enough to know that he feels emasculated by Peeta’s offer.

“Is there any water?” Madge asks, interrupting Gale’s tirade. “The ship only had wine.”

Katniss nods. “There’s a stream just a little ways in.”

“You went into jungle, unarmed?” Gale asks her quietly, eyes narrowed.

Katniss immediately opens her mouth to fire a scathing retort, before she realizes just how foolish she and Peeta were, just lounging around, totally unarmed, in a foreign terrain. She feels embarrassed how she let grief override common sense, and Peeta lull her into a false sense of security.

Gale, to his credit, does not yell at her like she was expecting, just sighs and runs a hand through his messy hair.

“Are there any more?” Gale asks Peeta. “People?”

Peeta shakes his head sadly. “I have found none besides Miss. Katniss.”

Madge suddenly sways on her feet, and both Peeta and Gale reach for her. It’s Gale that grabs her first since he’s closer, but Peeta still hovers by, looking worriedly at her flushed, pale skin. Katniss bites the inside of her cheek-where had this concern of his been when he had found her nearly dehydrated on the beach?

“Sorry,” Madge apologizes, looking embarrassed as she rights herself. “It’s just awfully hot out.”

Gale reaches into the raft and pulls out a sword. Pointing to Peeta with its metal tip, he says, “Lead us to water.”

He then looks at Katniss pointedly. “Watch the animals, if anything happens, scream.”

Katniss sits on the sand and plays with the two dogs as she tries to push down her irrational anger of Peeta’s behavior, and instead does a visual inventory of what Gale and Madge were able to bring over. There was a sheep, a goat, a couple hens, and several crates. The raft itself was made of assorted barrels, planks, and rope.

She couldn’t help but relax, knowing Gale was with her now. He’d make sure they’d be looked after.

“Miss. Katniss,” Katniss turns to see Peeta emerge from the large palm trees first, a large shell in his hand.

“Here,” he says, handing the shell to her. She realizes it’s filled with water. “You should keep drinking water.”

Katniss gives him a small, but grateful smile, before greedily drinking the water.

Gale and Madge reemerge as well, and the four of them set forth on setting up camp. They go just a little way into the trees, so that under their feet is soft, fluffy green grass instead of sand, but close enough to shore that whatever predators the island houses are still inland enough that they aren’t a threat.

Madge works with the food she brought with her in a large stewpot, which Peeta puts over a fire he’s made of stones from the beach. Katniss works on making a tent out of poles and sailcloth, while Gale secures the animals.  
When she’s done, Katniss can’t help but frown at her handiwork. The tent was rather small, and there wasn’t enough cloth to make two.

“Dinner is ready,” Madge calls sweetly, as she pulls out bowls and silverware from a crate. They sit in a circle around the fire as the sun sets behind them. Madge has taken off her large hat and in the firelight, her hair and skin glow.

“Very delicious,” Peeta appraises Madge’s beef stew. Katniss wants to gag-it’s not like she even cooked it!

“She just warmed what was already made,” Gale scoffs. Katniss wants to hug him.

“Feel free to eat something else then,” Madge says in mock-politeness, making Gale glare at her. To Peeta, she smiles prettily. “Thank you, sir, I’m glad you like the stew.”

Sir? Katniss has to physically restrain from gagging-their pretentious chemistry was too much. Why did she have to be stranded with two aggravating lovebirds?

“We need to scout island tomorrow,” Gale speaks up, distracting Katniss from her Madge-Peeta induced nausea. “Find good location for house. We cannot live in tent forever.”

“What about house in tree?” Peeta suggests, pointing up at a tree. “That way we will be safe from bad animals.”

“A tree house!” Madge exclaims. “I’ve read books that had some in them, we could definitely build one.”

“There are bigger animals on ship,” Gale continues. “Cows and oxen. We must build bigger boat and bring them.”

“We’ll need to build a barn then too,” Katniss points out.

Gale nods in agreement. “I brought tools from ship, it will be doable.”

“And I brought these,” Madge says, pulling out a satchel from a pocket in her skirts. Untying the string that kept it closed, she poured out many more satchels, much smaller than their container, into her palm. “They are seeds for crops. We can plant them since we don’t know which fruits and vegetables are safe to eat here.”

Even Gale looks grudgingly impressed.

“Why did you bring no guns?” Katniss asks Gale, not wanting to linger too long on Madge’s resourcefulness.

Gale sighs exasperatedly. “Apparently there were no guns allowed on ship, I just found this sword in captain’s room.”

“There should be gunpowder, though,” Madge tells them all.

“Yes, let me build rifle out of bark,” Gale snaps.

“I can build bow and arrow,” Katniss says, feeling bad that Gale was being mean to Madge, and feeling guilty that she herself had wanted to be mean to her.

“It is getting dark,” Peeta comments. “We should retire soon.”

The four of them look at the small tent in shared awkwardness.

“Will we...will we all fit?” Madge asks hesitantly.

“Only one way to find out,” Gale grumbles, hauling himself up, and entering the tent. When no one follows, he sticks his head out and glares at them impatiently. “Well?”

Katniss is the next to get up, then Peeta, and finally Madge. Katniss enters the tent first and finds that Gale has lain himself down right in the middle. She goes to lie down to his right, and when Peeta enters, he pauses for a moment before lying to his left.

That just leaves Madge, and when she enters, she misses Gale’s long legs in the dark, and stumbles over them, landing right on him.

“Sorry!” Madge squeaks as she crawls off him-and right onto Katniss, while Gale hisses in pain. Once Katniss is able to practically shove Madge off her, she finds herself squeezed between Madge and Gale.

“Well,” Peeta’s voice breaks the heavy silence. “We fit.”

Barely.

Gale leaves the tent first, followed by Madge, leaving her and Peeta for just a moment.

“Perhaps if your cousin was not so tall, we would have more room,” Peeta whispers in a teasing voice. Katniss bites her lip to stifle her laugh.

“You are right.”

She leaves the tent to find Gale securing the dogs with rope right outside the entrance of the tent, and Madge putting their bowls and utensils into the stewpot.  
“These should be washed,” Madge says to Gale’s bandaged back. “Or the smell might attract animals.”

“I will help,” Katniss offers, taking one handle of the stewpot. Madge gives her a grateful smile, and once more, Katniss feels guilty for all her awful thoughts towards the girl. It wasn’t her fault she was pretty.

“Feed the animals,” Gale tells Peeta, picking up a stick thick enough to be a torch and dipping it into the flames. “I will go with girls.”

Peeta nods and opens the crate with the animal feed as Gale follows her and Madge with his torch and sword. They’re able to reach the stream with no altercations, but once they’re there, Madge hesitates.

“Can you hold the torch near the water?” Madge asks bashfully. “I don’t want to put my hands in water I can’t see.”

“Maybe if you had not wasted such daylight by...what is goddamn word? Annoying me, this would not happen!” Gale growls, though he does as she says, and holds the torch by the water.

“Stop being so rude,” Katniss chastises him in Italian, aware that Madge is watching her. “She was just looking out for you. You have not been in such an unfavorable mood in years.”

Katniss did not have to specify when it was that Gale was so sour. They both knew she was referring to when his Father-her uncle, had died.

“Look at her,” Gale sneers. “We came on this ship to find work, while she was probably honeymooning with her wealthy husband.”

“And now she’s not,” Katniss snaps. “So quiet down.”

When she turns back to the stream, she catches the grateful smile Madge sends her. It seemed that despite the language barrier, Madge had understood what Katniss had done for her. Katniss can’t help but smile back.

The two girls wash the dishes silently while Gale broods When they’re done, Madge unpins her hair and runs wet fingers through it before splashing her face with water. Katniss also cleans herself up, and when she’s done, Madge is grinning widely at her, pointing to her newly braided hair.

“Now we match!” Madge giggles and Katniss is suddenly struck with an intense longing for Prim.

Before they leave, Katniss tells Gale to clean up as well. He gives her an unimpressed look when she tells him he smells. By the time they make it back to the camp, Peeta is finished with his chores and is already in the tent.

Madge goes to one of the crates and pulls out a roll of bandage.

“Here,” she says, giving it to Katniss and not looking at Gale. “He needs his bandages changed.”

Katniss bites her tongue from saying that she did not have to go through all this to have a few moments alone with Peeta in the tent. She can already see that woeful day, a few months from now, a wailing blonde infant making their lives difficult.

Gale sits back down in front of the fire, and Katniss undoes the carefully wrapped bandages.

Once his flesh is exposed, Katniss can’t help but gasp. There are two horizontal burns, deep and an angry red, stretching across his back, wider than her hands.

“What happened?” Katniss whispers as tears gather in her eyes. No wonder Gale had been so irritable all day, she could only imagine how much pain he was in.

“I think some burning wood fell on me when the thunder struck,” Gale recounts. “It must have been on for a while before I was able to get it off.”

“Must have?” Katniss echoes in confusion. Gale shrugs and then immediately winces.

“I don’t remember anything after the explosion. I just remember the fire, and then waking up in the cellar,” Gale explains.

Katniss doesn’t question his memory, but she does wonder how he was able to drag himself into a cellar….while unconscious.

When she’s done rewrapping him, it’s obvious that her work wasn’t as meticulous as Madge’s, though she had tried her very best.

Gale gets up and kisses her head in gratitude. “Let us get some sleep, cousin.”

Katniss takes a deep breath before entering the tent. While the rational part of her mind knows that Madge and Peeta would never attempt anything when they knew she and Gale were coming, another, more insistent part of her mind dreaded whatever it was she’d see in the tent.

But when she enters, she finds Madge and Peeta on opposite sides, neither of them speaking. Katniss can’t help but flush in shame as she settles next to Madge, and she sends up a quick prayer for forgiveness for her harsh and judgemental thoughts.

As soon as she’s settled, Madge turns around and cuddles into Katniss’s side, laying one arm across her torso and nestling her face into her neck.

_What on Earth?_

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Madge whispers, though they both know the men can hear her. “I’d hate to be the only woman.”

Though still highly uncomfortable, Katniss nods to that sentiment and feels further shame for being so vile to such a kind girl.

She plans on moving Madge off of her as soon as she falls asleep, but her warmth and softness remind her of Prim, and Katniss doesn’t have it in her to push her away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope it's clear, who's speaking what language, and when. Basically, if Katniss and Gale are ever alone, they'll be speaking Italian, unless a word is Italicized, then it's in English.
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


	4. Scouting

She’s suffocating.

Her eyes fly open as her lungs struggle to fill with air and for one terrible moment, she thinks she’s back to that awful night of the ship sinking and is six feet under water. The terror passes quickly, though, and she realizes she’s just in an overheated tent, squished between her large cousin and an Englishwoman that was not only still snuggling her, but purring like a cat while she did.

Katniss gently removes Madge from her, which elicits a whimper from the latter, but does not stir from her sleep. Gale, who usually just as light of a sleeper as she was, does not pause once in his snoring as she climbs over him and out of the tent, into the blessedly cool airs of dawn.

“Good morning.”

Katniss whirls around to find Peeta walking towards her with two pails in each hand, and a sickle hanging from his hip.

“Morning,” Katniss says back to him, running a self-conscious hand through her braid. She had just woken up; she could only imagine how unsightly she must look.

“I bring water, one for drinking, one for cleaning,” Peeta explains as he sets down the pails. “Because water is far.”

“Thank you,” Katniss tells him gratefully, bending down so she could splash her face with water, finding great relief in its coolness.

“Would you like egg?” Peeta asks as he heads over to where the animals are weakly enclosed. “I mix vegetable in it.”

“You can cook?” Katniss asks in surprise. She knew Gale could roast various meats, but he couldn’t put together an actual dish.

“Ja,” Peeta answers with a smile, coming back with 4 eggs. He pulls out a tomato, an onion, and some ginger, as well as salt and pepper. “I was baker’s son in Germany. I spend most time in kitchen.”

Katniss stopped herself from asking why his family had left for Australia. If his hometown had been anything like hers, then bakers were usually well-off. Deciding it wasn’t any of her business, she goes to milk one of the goats while Peeta makes his egg concoction.

By the time she’s done and with two glasses of milk for them, Peeta is handing her a plate with her egg.

“It is French, it is called,” Peeta pauses and scrunches up his light eyebrows as he tries to recall the word. “Om...let? I believe.”

“This omlet is very good,” Katniss tells him honestly as she shovels a bite into her mouth. Not wanting to feel completely useless, she gives him a glass of the goat milk. “Drink this too.”

Peeta gives her an unexpectedly large smile, and when he goes to take the glass from her, his fingers just skim hers, but just as quickly as they came, they were gone. As soon as he had a proper grip on his glass, Katniss quickly withdrew her hand. Her fingers were hard and calloused from years of hard, manual labor. She hoped he hadn’t felt how rough her skin is.

“How did you sleep last night?” Peeta asks in the middle of their meal. Katniss can’t help but roll her eyes.

“I believe Madge is part cat, this morning when I woke up, she was purring!” Katniss exclaims incredulously. “She is something else.”

“Maybe she just likes you,” Peeta suggests kindly. “But I agree with you...there is something off with her.”

Katniss stops chewing. She hadn’t noticed anything like that. “What do you mean?”

Peeta shrugs his shoulders. “There is something troubled in her eyes.”

“Well, she is stranded,” Katniss points out. “It makes sense if she is troubled. We all are, no?”

“Yes,” Peeta agrees, but with a shake of his head. “But there is something terrible on her shoulders, I just feel it.”

Katniss stares into her glass filled with milk as she considers this.

“Is that…” Katniss begins hesitantly. “Why you are so kind to her?”

Peeta looks confused at her question. “I try to be kind to everyone.”

“Ah,” Katniss says, feeling, for whatever reason, dissatisfied with his answer.

They finish the rest of the meal in silence, and while Peeta gathers the used dishes and Katniss drinks from the pail, the tent flap is opened suddenly, revealing a frantic Madge.

“Good morning,” she greets them both tightly. “I need to go to the stream.”

Peeta speaks up first. “Actually, I brought-”

“I need to go to the stream,” Madge repeats loudly.

“You can’t go alone,” Katniss beings, standing up to join her, but Madge quickly shakes her head and unties one of the dogs.

“I am not alone,” she says hurriedly before leaving, her walk...off, as she scampered away.

Katniss shares a bewildered look with Peeta.

“Do you think...something happened between her and your cousin?” Peeta asks cautiously.

Katniss is immediately angry. “Gale would never hurt a woman!”

Peeta’s eyes widen at her furious tone. “I did not mean like that!” he quickly assures her. “Maybe Miss. Madge did something.”

Katniss doesn’t know how to reply to that, and they’re both quiet in contemplation when Gale emerges from the tent, looking rather grumpy.

“What happened?” Katniss asks him immediately in Italian.

Gale squints at her blearily. “Huh?”

“With Madge,” Katniss repeats through gritted teeth. “In the tent, earlier.”

Gale frowns at her. “She was gone before I woke up.”

“Nothing happened,” Katniss tells Peeta, whose shoulders droop in relief.

“What is it?” Gale snaps in English, looking between her and Peeta.

“Miss. Madge looked little upset,” Peeta explains. “We were just making sure everything ok.”

“Everything is fine,” Madge’s voice takes the three of them by surprise, and she steps back into their little campsite with a gentle smile on her face, the dog wagging his tail happily beside her. “Is that an omelette?”

“Yes!” Peeta says excitedly. He serves both Gale and Madge as Katniss heads over to the stream with the same dog that had accompanied Madge to relieve herself.

When she returns, Peeta and Gale are in deep conversation as Madge just listens along. Katniss takes a seat across from her and observes Madge, while the dog she was with settles closely next to her. Her gaze is distant, yes, but she doesn’t see anything abnormal besides that. Perhaps Peeta was just giving her an excuse for his behavior towards the Englishwoman. A more rational voice told her that perhaps she was not as good at reading people, but she promptly dismissed the thought.

“See?” Peeta says to Gale, pulling out a water damaged journal from his breast pocket. “The water hurt it, but I can draw. I go into island and map out what I see, then we decide where to make living plot.”

Gale flips through the journal with thin lips but impressed eyes, before sighing and rubbing his forehead.

“My back,” Gale admits with a pained expression. Katniss was shocked he was admitting to his ailment at all. “I cannot fight well...I will bring you down.”

Peeta clasps his shoulder and gives him a little shake. “It is alright, friend. I can go alone.”

“No,” Katniss blurts quickly. “I make a bow and arrow and we go together.”

Everyone turns towards Gale to see his reaction. He seems resigned.

“Katniss is strong,” he tells Peeta. “If you try anything, you will have arrow in your head.”

Peeta laughs at this and Katniss glares at Gale for making her out to be some sort of barbarian. He grins back at her, and mouths it's true.

“So you and I will go back to the ship, then?” Madge finally speaks up, looking at Gale. Immediately his grin is gone.

“I will go to ship,” Gale snaps. “You can sit here and brush your hair.”

Madge’s expression darkens as she clenches her jaw, presumably from snapping right back at him.

“You can not row by yourself, and while you feed the animals, I can look for more supplies,” Madge grounds out. “After all, who was the one who found the seeds?”

Gale opens his mouth to argue, but nothing falls out. She’s stumped him.

“Well, this split up good,” Peeta chuckles, trying to break the awkward tension.

“Fine,” Gale sighs, before gesturing to the dogs. “You must take the dogs, though.”

Katniss nods and goes to untie the second dog. It immediately bounds over to Gale, licking his rather annoyed face.

“He likes you,” Madge giggles, patting the head of the dog that seemed to like her.

“Yes yes,” Gale grumbles, trying to get the dog off of him. “Hello to you too.”

This causes the three of them to laugh out loud and the awkwardness is finally gone.

“You must name him!” Madge insists. “It only makes sense.”

“What will you name that dog?” Peeta asks her.

Madge looks down at the dog, rubbing her chin in contemplation. “Hm...His name will be spot.”

Katniss can’t help but roll her eyes. The dog had a rather large spot over its right eye; Posy, her five-year-old cousin could have come up with a better name. Probably.

“So what will you name the dog?” Katniss presses Gale, enjoying goading him into doing something he could care less about.  
Gale pretends to think for a moment. “Dog.”

Madge levels him an unimpressed stare. “You’re going to name the dog….dog.”

Gale shoots back a just as unimpressed look. “Yes.”

  
After some more playful bickering, the four of them get up and begin their respective preparations. Gale traded his sword for Peeta’s sickle, while Madge dug up a new notebook and pencil for Peeta to work with. Katniss strapped a dagger to her hip until she could find the right plants she could fashion a bow with.

“Be careful, cousin,” Gale tells her before he and Madge tow the raft back into the waters. Katniss notices that Madge’s walk has gone back to normal.

“We should get water,” Katniss suggests, rooting through the crates until she found a large flask. Unclasping it, she nearly gagged at the repugnant smell of liquor hit her nose.

“You do not like alcohol?” Peeta laughs, mercifully taking the flask from her and closing it.

Katniss shakes her head. It wasn’t that she didn’t like it, it was more like she could not hold it down. At all. But she kept that information to herself.

They head down to the stream where Peeta diligently washes the flask before filling it with water. He stands once he slings it over a broad shoulder.

“Shall we?” Peeta asks with a polite tip of his towards the unknown. Pushing down her anxiety, Katniss nods back.

For a while, they struggle through the dense underbrush of the jungle, with Peeta forced to slash away the large vines and branches that obstructed their path.

“It is very hot,” Peeta huffs, pausing as he wipes some of the sweat off his forehead with his forearm. Before then, Katniss had been keeping an eye on their surroundings, but now, with her face nearly pressed against his back, she sees now in the dim light filtered through the trees, the white cotton of his shirt is nearly translucent with sweat.

Quickly diverting her eyes, she nods, even though he can’t see as he begins to chop once more.

“Your cousin was in better mood today,” Peeta comments. “Well, with me, at least.”

“He was hurt, yesterday,” Katniss explains, as she steps over a large root, dagged clenched tightly in her hand. She hated being out here without a bow. “And tired. He trusts you a little now too.” He has to, Katniss adds silently, knowing her cousin well.

“Maybe we will be friends,” Peeta says, almost hopefully. Katniss tries to imagine the two of them: dark and grumpy Gale friends with light and cheery Peeta.

“Maybe,” Katniss agrees, and they leave it at that.

“I think we’re-oh.”

Katniss steps next to him to see what he’s looking at and finds herself stunned speechless, too.

They had stepped into….Paradise?

Green hills dotted with wildflowers surrounded by mountains, scattered with large trees, rolling streams, and a blue sky looming over it all stood before them.

“It’s beautiful,” Peeta breathes, and Katniss can only nod, the scenery filling her heart until it felt as if it would explode.

Peeta’s sad sigh snaps her out of reverie.

“What is it?” Katniss asks worriedly.

“Nothing, nothing,” he quickly assures her with a small smile. “I just think, if I could climb tree, it would be so easy to draw map, but I cannot.”

“Oh,” is all Katniss says. “I climb trees.”

Peeta’s eyes widen. “You...can?”

Katniss nods with a slight smirk. “I am very good.”

“So...you can climb, and describe island to me?” Peeta asks excitedly.

Here Katniss falters. “I am not good with words,” she admits with embarrassment.

“You are perfect!” Peeta assures her. “I will stay down and catch you if you fall.”

She’s too shy from his words to tell him she doesn’t need him to spot her, instead walks over to a large tree and eyes it, planning her climbing route.

“You need push?” Peeta asks timidly.

“No,” Katniss nearly squeaks, still not recovered from being called “perfect”. “I am ok.”

To prove this, she jumps up and grabs a hold of the lowest branch, hauling herself up. It’s only when she’s up there does she realize that down below, Peeta can very clearly look up her skirts. But when she looks down, he’s dutifully looking down at his notebook. Katniss doesn’t know if she wants to sigh in relief or bristle with annoyance that he could care less about what she looked like.

Pushing away these thoughts, she maneuvers through her skirts and up the branches until she’s high up enough in the tree that she needs to shout for Peeta to hear her.

“The ship is behind and to the right of us,” Katniss shouts. “It is surrounded by cluster of rocks, but I see nothing else far away.”

“What is the shape of the island?” Peeta shouts back.

Katniss looks around. “A bean,” she answers. “The mountains are mostly to our left, and there are several large lakes to the right. There is a thick ring of jungle surrounding the island, next to the beach.”

Katniss goes on describing what she sees to Peeta, and she’s in the middle of telling him the field of what looks like wheat when she hears an angry...snarl?

Looking down, she sees the small figure of Peeta, and across from him, a very angry, pig-like animal.

“Peeta!” Katniss cries, rushing down to help him, despite the fact she only has a small dagger. She watches with horror as the large pig charges towards Peeta, who does not move from his spot.

“Climb, jump!” Katniss shouts desperately, climbing down even faster. She hears a sickening howl of pain, and in her haste to both descend and look down, her foot misses a branch, and she falls.

A scream has just ripped from her throat, when she lands on something very solid, but still much softer than the ground.

Her eyes are still closed when she realizes the slight pressure on her abdomen are arms, and for a moment, Katniss is totally still as she realizes the sturdy warmth behind her is Peeta's chest, and it's hot breath that's ghosting her ear.

“I am so sorry!” Katniss squeaks, quickly rolling off Peeta, whose smile looks more like a wince. Her idiotic mind keeps reminding her how his wide chest felt against her narrow back

“No problem,” he wheezes, sitting up to rub his back. Next to them is the large pig, with a sword in its side.

“You killed it,” Katniss says, unable to keep the surprise from her voice.

“I am baker, yes,” Peeta says amusedly. “But I play fought with village boys a lot. It is easy to predict attack.”

“I am sorry,” Katniss repeats, wincing as she stood up. Though Peeta had broken her fall, her body was still sore. “I was not looking, and then-”

“Do not apologize,” Peeta says sincerely. “It is my fault for not catching good. I am sorry.”

Katniss could only stare at him with wide-eyes. She had nearly crushed him, and he was apologizing to her for not being a better human pillow.

“We go to this lake?” Peeta asks, pointing to something he had drawn in his notebook.

Katniss gasps at his work. It spans across two pages, so there is an awkward gap where the seam is, but otherwise, it looks as if she is staring at a professional map.

“Baker, fighter, artist, is there anything you cannot do?” Katniss asks seriously.

Peeta laughs and rubs the back of his neck. “More than I can,” he says humbly. “Let us go, ja?”

Katniss follows him to the lake, where they both wash up and drink from, since they had emptied the flask in the jungle.

“What do you think?” Peeta asks her, gesturing with a hand. “Do you think this is a good place for plot?”

Katniss looks around. There’s a lake, room for growing crops, a barn, and of course, there are several large trees entwined together, that seem to provide the perfect base of the tree house. But none of this is what catches her attention. It’s the tube-like reeds growing at the edge of the lake a little ways from them.

She can feel Peeta’s questioning gaze on her as she traces a finger up the reed. It’s almost identical to the material her father had used to make his own bow.

“It’s perfect,” Katniss answers back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for long delay in updating ://

**Author's Note:**

> I read "Swiss Family Robinson" as a girl, and really liked it, and remembered only today just how nicely elements of it would play into an Everlark story! 
> 
> Disclaimer: I speak neither Italian nor German, and get everything from Google translate. If you ever catch a mistake in one of these languages, please let me know, and I'll correct it!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
